We live in extraordinary times. In just the last few decades, we may have thought we had already seen it all. Like the rise of new business models. Business models ahead of their time. Stock market bubbles. Economic downturns. Economic recessions. The rise of Google. The rise of Facebook. However, now we are experiencing something entirely new. It starts with a simple concept that we preach all the time at Consumer Acquisition, which is Faster, Better, Cheaper. This is what we believe is the mandate for marketers in this era of change.
However, this is the first time we have seen this industry take massive steps backward. Even beyond the external pressures of a pandemic, economic slowing, and division running rampant. As a result, the challenges of privacy regulation and privacy as a feature in hardware and software are shaking up the industry. An accelerated path to media buying automation, driven by Facebook AAA and Google AC, will disrupt workflows and human capital. But we have never been more excited. Wait, what? That is right. Even though this is the first real step backward for our industry, we feel like it represents two steps forward. We will stumble in those two steps and we may fall, but we will rise.
Faster, Better, Cheaper
It sounds simple and is intentionally devoid of jargon. But Faster, Better, Cheaper is key during this accelerated rate of change in the industry. Every business model will have a variation of Faster, Better, Cheaper, so let me explain what it means to our industry and social advertisers.
Faster
Accelerated learning to identify which creative will win the day and increase media return on investment.
Better
Enable our clients to avoid their own creative limitations and breakthrough into “new stories”. Essentially, creating new and immersive stories that create action in the 15-30 seconds allowed by social media user behavior.
Cheaper
A new working model that is powered by our 100% remote and globally diverse workforce. Which is also paired with proprietary technology to ensure high quality creative. Plus, a high velocity of output and the pairing of creative assignments to the right individual. An individual based on their bandwidth and unique skills.
Faster, Better, Cheaper is all about balance. You cannot lean into one and forsake the other two. “Cheaper” can make some cringe, especially when speaking about creativity. However, “Cheaper” does not mean lower quality or less creativity. It is about improved costs and economies of scale. This is balanced by the concept of Better. Always be in a state of Kaizen and continuous improvement. Increasing quality, paired with increasing efficiency and speed. This is the formula for success.
Two Steps Forward
Back to the “two steps forward” mentioned at the very beginning of this blog post. For both privacy and automation, winning creative, paired with innovative use of quantitative analysis, will be the determinant of success. The industry has become commoditized in terms of achieving success. The same metrics and the same general approaches. The same general approach and accepted limitations of deterministic measurement.
As measurement becomes opaquer and media buying automation increases, marketers will have to look internally to gain market share. This relies on a deeper and more actionable understanding of their customers and their motivations. A deeper ability to connect media investments to positive customer experiences and revenue-generating behavior. Most importantly, marketers will have to tell an authentic and compelling story. More so than their competitors. We are moving from a world of marginal gains to something more like The Red Queen Effect. An arms race of insights activated in storytelling and compelling creative.
Are you prepared to take two steps forward? Are your organization, mindset, and processes aligned to operate in a Faster, Better, Cheaper model? If not, let us talk about getting your organization ready to succeed. Not despite the changes coming in the months and years ahead. But built to capitalize on this exciting time of rapid evolution in the industry.
Our Business Model
As a quick primer, our business is made up of three necessary parts for marketing success for brands and developers. Which are in the business model of discovery. Discovery of new audiences for the brand and discovery of the brand by existing audiences looking for a change.
- A Creative Studio that creates compelling, story-enhanced digital ads that compel users to stop scrolling, engage with the ad, and take action towards a business outcome.
- Experienced user acquisition and performance marketing services team that executes creative testing through a combination of art and science to ensure that impressions are weighted to “winning creative” In addition, every impression allocated to lower-performing creative is lost money in our minds. This team supports clients on an outsourced model. Or provides consulting and coaching to internal teams to improve efficiency and modernize strategies and tactics.
- Lastly, we create unparalleled efficiency and analysis capabilities through our proprietary software platform, AdRules. Essentially, creative workflow, testing activation, reporting, and analysis are automated. They are also supported by machine learning. Therefore, this is to get to business outcomes faster and across a geographically dispersed and diverse creative team.
We have proved our mettle in the high-velocity and highly visual world of gaming and entertainment. Also, we have evolved and sharpened our model in the world of eCommerce, digital services, and fintech. As a result, we believe our unique business model is the right model for these extraordinary times.